The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-26
THE WATERMELON SEASON.
Handling Sixty Thousand of the Fruit
in One Day.
From The Mem York Erenina S,n,.

saying great deal.
Yesterday morning little blackboard on
the pier of the Ocean Steamship Company
of Savannah at the foot of Park row an
nOunced that the steamship City of Augusta,
with big cargo ,watermelOns and several
Southern people coming North under the
delusion that it is cool here had passed the
Highlands. At 1890 o'clock the big iron
steamship swept up to her pier and then
large, hot pandemonium broke loose. Scores
of big trucks with yelling perspiring drivers
struggled for places on the pier and the po-
lice officer ON duty there shouted himself
hoarse trying to keep each in his place.
When the passengers had left the ship the
watermelons disembarked. There were
about 60, 600 of them, and it seemed from
the noise made by the men who unloaded
them that there was one man to every
melon. There were, however, only 200
men. Each wore a decollette outfit of an
undeIShirt and pair Of overalls.
The perSpiration streamed from them
until they looked as if they had been bath
ing in watermelon juice. By way Of keep
ing enough moisture in the system, they
stopped now and then to seize the bushing
vitals of a watermelon that had been frac-
tured coming ashore Piles of these broken
melons accumulated on the pier. The red
of the interior of the melons and the rich
green of the rinds, with the black hull of
the iron steamship as a background, made a
striking combination of colors.
When the broken melons had thrown out
their red signals, several small boys an
swered them with great promptness and
made the soul of the police officer weary
The country boy, who eludes the farmers
bulldog or lodges the contents of his shot
gun, steals melon and Tugs it off into some
quiet corner of the cornfield thinks he has
fun and excitement, but his experiences are
tame beside the melon escapades of these
city boys who never saw a colnfield =. The
country boy, after he has carried melon
half a mile and then cut it, often finds it is
green. The city boy has to run no such
chances. He merely runs the gauntlet of
the police to the end of the pier, seizes the
biggest piece of melon he can find, skulks
behind trucks till he gets near the pier en-
trance, and then makes desperate dash for
some place of safety where he can gorge
himself and get the cholera morbus unmo-
Tested.
About 10 per cent. of cargo of melons
is lost through breakage and other causes
said dealer, land sometimes l think per
cent of this loss accumulates on the dock.
Say 10000 melons week come in here.
That would give the boys 1900 melons a
week.
A reporter went in the big vessels melon
hold to see the men unloading the cargo.
Every minute man would make toward
him with big, bullying wheelbarrow and
yell, Look out, therem
He would look out in that direction only
to collide with another wheelbarrow, and
provoke the terribly powerful profanity of
another man. Each carload lot of melons
was separated from each other lot with
sort of wooden cage, labelled with the name
Of the consignee. A carload is from 1000
to 800 melons, and the freight amounts to
about 800 The Charleston and the Mallory
lines bring their contributions to the great
supply, and even in the less busy season
the arrivals here amount to 100000 week,
which, at the lowest price, would make the
amount invested in melons in New York
every week something beyond the compre-
tension of the honest farmer with his little
10 by II hill patches.
There is too, one character among the
many dealers on the long pier at the foot of
Park place who would take the conceit out
of the average country boy who raises his
little crop of melons for home consumption.
Every such boy brides himself that he can
surpass every other boy in telling whether
melon is ripe or not without plugging it
aud thus running its future usefulness Each
boy has his favOrite rule for diagnosing a
melons case without dissection and he will
tell you all about it. There is an old melon
dealer on the pier, James Tierney by name,
who has the reputation of having never
been fooled with a green melon. He cannot
tell you how to decide by outward evidence
the inward state of melon, but he does it.
He buys big melons and he cannot afford
to be fooled
Another expert is John Malley, buyer for
James A. Judge, one of the most extensive
dealers on the market. A carload of the
largest and finest melons received this sea-
son were at the point on the pier devoted
to Mr. Judges fruit. Some modest
melons were selling at $40 and SIS a hun
dred yesterday, but Mr.. Judges giants cost
$45.
Sitting beside the display was j. F. Saun-
ders, bronzed Southern gentleman He is
the man who raised the melons, and he had
come up all the way from his South Caro-
lima melon farm of forty-four acres to see
what sort of a reception New York would
give his fruit. He raised forty seven acres
this year with 40 hills TO the acre The bugs
nipped off an average of forty hills to the
acre-tbe bug, unlike the boy, prefers his
melons grcen-which left 400 hills on each
acre. The watermelon vine, if allowed to
have its own prolific way, would produce a
large number Of melons of assorted sizes:
but Mr.. Saunders allowed only one melon
TO the vine and when the vine came to I'M
derstand that it had to devote all its atten-
ton to one object it did its level and biggest
best
These Georgia melons have been coming
ever since June said dealer, land the
season may last over two weeks longer
Then the Virginia melons will have their
turn. They come by rail and by the Old
Dominion line. A melon doesn't like to
travel on the ears very well, and it makes
it slightly seasicll TO come by steamship. It
has to rest two or three days after its ar
rival to be in good shape"
h, 4 ..,, 1. 4
the New Jersey melon viii come up smiling
and bushing. Besides the big dealers there
stood on the pier groups of men and women
whose clamor could be heard above the rat
tie of the trucks and the shouts of melon I'M
leaders, They were buyers of "specked"
melons. They are tho individuals WHO retail
the red fruit On stands i'll the crowded quar-
tiers ut lc gnaw. Their skill in carving and
making the most of the melon is wonder
full They waste not fragment of il. A
specked melon is one which hes been slight
~ bruised and has a weak point. The un-
harmed portion may be healthy and these
melon surgeons buy their stock cheap, cut
out IN" diseased portions with great care,
and make handsome profit on them There
was not colored man among these modest
dealers, Colorcd people have tried the
business with the almost invariable result
that they yielded 20 temptation and ate up
their own stores. There were coloretl men
among the unloaders, and the steamboat
line has innumcrable applications from Afri-
cans who desire positions on the melon
boats